Season Seven

This June, True Blood returns, bringing all of the boobs, blood, chiseled abs, vampires, werewolves and on-the-nose political metaphors with it. Season Seven is the show’s final hurrah and, if this first full-length trailer is any indication, it’s going to be a total slaughter-fest.

For the first time ever a British television series has been featured on the cover of Entertainment Weekly and I believe I speak for all of us when I say, “Fuck yeah, it’s Doctor Who!” The show’s popularity stateside has been growing ever since it returned to television in 2005, and it’s currently enjoying some of the best exposure in Doctor Who‘s 49 year history.

In EW,Matt Smith gives an interview covering everything from the season seven opener, “The Asylum of the Daleks,” to new companion, Jenna -Louise Coleman, and of course, the Grand Poobah himself, Steven Moffat.

Here are some great highlights collected by Doctor Who TV, but the whole interview is available to read here.

On Asylum of the Daleks:

I got to meet my favourite Daleks, which are actually from [Patrick] Troughton’s era, I think. They’re the sort of pale blue and whitey ones. They’re a bit smaller actually. I think they’re groovy! I mean, we’ve got every Dalek that exists in the world [in the episode].

On James Corden coming back:

We’d love him to, but he’s pretty busy being a Tony award-winning actor on Broadway and having a baby. But we’d love to get James back.

On Mark Gatiss’ episode, The Crimson Horror (TBC):

We’ve got Diana Rigg, Dame Diana Rigg — Emma Peel! (Rigg played Peel on the beloved ’60s U.K show The Avengers)! I mean, she is one of the first kick-arse women. It’s wonderful. What an actress! What a lady! We’re thrilled to have someone of her caliber on the show.

I think Mark has written a wonderfully sprawling episode. Let me read you a line. This is an exclusive! “Well, thanks a million, you three. Have some Pontefract Cakes on me.” So there we go. I’m giving it all away! It’s a great episode. The Doctor’s in a cool new Victorian costume. I get a hat and a three-piece suit. I’m having a ball!

On how Jenna-Louise Coleman is doing:

She’s doing really well. She’s thoroughly prepared, has a lovely nature about her, and I think she really gets Steven’s writing. This show is about change and it’s about regeneration and the only thing you can do is move with it. So we embrace and welcome Jenna and she’s doing really well.

On Steven Moffat and the Xmas Special:

[Steven] is brilliantly cantankerous. He has very firm opinions about everything — apart from what car he’s meant to get into going from A to B, where he generally looks quite confused. He doesn’t quite know where he should be going once he’s leaving somewhere and going somewhere else.

But, I mean, Steven makes me laugh more than most people in the world. He is acute and funny and ironic and silly and remains, at the ripe and seasoned age of 50, very child-like and ridiculous and good fun. I just read the Christmas special and there’s a bit in it where I’m like, “Where does he get it from? Where? Where does it come from?” Because it’s totally left field as an idea, and it’s magic. The invention through form in this show — I mean, can you imagine having to plot this show?

On his future:

We’ve got the 50th anniversary stuff next year. I take it year by year. Because it’s such a commitment on your life. I don’t think you could do it for 7 years, like Tom Baker did. It would age you too savagely. The great thing about the Doctor is that there’s no stop sign. He can keep going and keep evolving and he can surprise you and the moment he stops surprising you is probably the moment that you should hand it over. But he still surprises me, so I’m still hanging in there.

Plan on picking up a copy of EW for all the Who goodies? Are you excited Doctor Who is finally garnering mainstream attention or do you wish the show had stayed more of a cult favorite? Here in the States I mean, Who’s obviously been well known in the U.K. for some time.

Only yesterday we were sharing a collection of set pics from the brilliant Ryan Farrell, who’s been all over the Doctor Who set gathering intel for internets. Today’s there’s a bit more to share about episode nine of season seven titled, “The Crimson Horror.”

Guess what? Plenty more spoilers here. Avoid if need be.

First we’ve got video of the Doctor (Matt Smith) and Jenny (Catrin Stewart), yes she is indeed reprising that same role, searching for his missing companion, Clara (Jenna-Louise Coleman).

What can me made out of the dialogue is Jenny telling the Doctor, Clara is dead and that Mrs. Gillyflower (Dame Diana Rigg), the “ice lady” was responsible. The Doctor responds with saying it isn’t that simple and the “the process is reversible.” We’re also assuming this has something to do with the creepy factory in town, run by Mrs. Gillyflower, which we’ve just learned is a matches factory bearing the sign, “Brightwell and Hyman – Quality Matches.”

All right, so much of this has been confirmation of what we told you yesterday, here’s the newest and most spoilery bit. Look who’s back,

Ah-ha! Madame Vastra (Neve McIntosh) is returning, along with Jenny, and could very well be seen hookin’ up with Clara as the rumors suggest. Sure, she denied it in an earlier interview but she also denied her return to the show and look! She’s right there! Liar, liar, pants on fire…

And she isn’t the only returning alien. Does this guy look familiar?

It’s Dan Starkey, reprising his role as the Sontaran Strax, last seen as a nurse now it seems a butler.

There’s a lot of bits here to piece together, and if even if we did I’m sure we’d be completely wrong, but what do you think “The Crimson Horror” will be all about? And how about the return of Madama Vastra and Jenny?

Thanks again to Ryan Farell for doing the work of 10 Whovians, great job!

Another day, another Doctor Who set report. Currently the show is filming the second half of the seventh season, where we meet the Doctor’s newest companion, Clara, played by Jenna-Louise Coleman. Episode nine is where these set pics come from (courtesy of Ryan Farrel via SFX, Den of Geek, Doctor Who TV), an episode rumored to called, “The Crimson Horror,” written by Mark Gatiss.

What follows contains spoilers, proceed with caution.

Joining Matt Smith and Jenna-Louise are Dame Diana Rigg, Brendan Patricks, and Catrin Stewart. Stewart previously played Jenny, Madame Vastra’s lover, in “A Good Man Goes to War,” which seems to lend some credence to an earlier rumor. Assuming, of course, she’s reprising the same character.

We can see from the photos that the episode looks to be set in a 19th-century village and it’s where Rigg’s character, Mrs Gillyflower, also known as the “ice lady” is involved in some nefarious activity. Apparently it’s something to do with people taken to her factory where they undergo some kind of “process.” Sounds a little Cyberman-ish to me.

Doctor Who TV is also reporting this line comes from the episode, “There is something very odd about that factory—nobody who goes in seems to come back out. And there’s never any smoke.”

Hmm, maybe it’s not Cybermen but clearly something unusual is happening at that factory, and the Doctor and his companions will be in the thick of it. Check out the photos and let us know what you think. For instance, is that a new outfit for the Doctor he’s seen sportin’?

We already knew the Daleks would return in season seven of Doctor Whoand with that teaser trailer released months ago we had reason to believe it would be in the season opener. Now it’s confirmed with the announcement the first episode of season will be titled, “Asylum of the Daleks.”

Hmm, we’ve already seen what happens when Daleks go mad, in this episode do they visit a home for insane Daleks? I don’t know, maybe, but the Great Wizard Steven Moffat confirmed with the BBC, “the adventure will feature every kind of Dalek ever faced by the Time Lord – including the legendary Special Weapons Dalek!”

Whoa–! That’s a lot of Daleks.

But y’know, asylum also refers to protection. Could the “Asylum” be referring to a place where the Daleks go to feel safe. But from who? Oh right, The Doctor! The destroyer of worlds.

Executive Producer Caro Skinner didn’t add much in the way of clarification or detail, but she had this to say of the episode,

This is an epic Dalek adventure that kicks off the new series in explosive style! If you think you know all there is to know about the Daleks, think again…

No matter what, I think we can expect to be in for one of hell of show, Moffat and co. will deliver, and I’m hoping season seven will be their best yet. What do you guys think we’ll be seeing in, “Asylum of the Daleks”?

Doctor Who and Co. have been hard at work filming the seventh season, and now that The Ponds have departed – sniff!, umm, just gimme a moment, okay – they’ve moved into the back end of the season which includes a new companion played by Jenna-Louise Coleman. We still know next to nothing about her, what with Steven Moffat being his usual cryptic, misleading self, but now we know her name!

At least we think its her name. Doctor Who TV reporter Ryan Farrell was on set recently and was able to snap a few photos as well as hear Ms. Coleman being called…

…

…

…Clara.

Hmm. That’s a rather normal sounding name for a companion Moffat describes as,

Who [Coleman is] playing, how the Doctor meets her, and even where he finds her, are all part of one of the biggest mysteries the Time Lord ever encounters. Even by the Doctor’s standards, this isn’t your usual boy meets girl.

When a new companion comes in it sort of reboots the show a little bit, it makes you look at the Doctor differently, it makes the show feel different, that’s already happening. It’s literally a new beginning, you’re back to chapter one, in a way it’s always a story of someone getting to know the Doctor, and now it’s Jenna’s character. There’s a lot of ways (her character) will be different, but I’m not telling you what they are!

Hmm, indeed. Here’s the images snapped on set.

The photos clearly show a Victorian setting for the episode, or do they? Only the Doctor’s in period clothing, and Jenna-Louise – I mean, Clara is shown in normal, run-of-the-mill, human, 21st century clothing. Is Clara just another human companion? Is she an alien in disguise? Or something more?

Since Coleman’s first episode is the Christmas Special, whatever this episode is it won’t air until 2013. What do you think Clara’s secret is? Is there a hint in first on set images?

Seems it’s been a little while since we reported on anything Doctor Who related. Last we checked in with the TARDIS and crew they were filming the last of The Pond’s adventures in New York City. So we know they’ve been hard at working filming the seventh season, but when can we expect it to air? Bleeding Cool has uncovered a clue in the schedule for Media Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival which has the first episode of Doctor Who season seven premiering between the 23rd and 25th of August. Hmm…what could this mean for its television air date? I’m guessing the Beeb will soon announce when Who returns, stay tuned!

In related Who news, Steven Moffat, grand master of things Who, recently spoke with Doctor Who Magazine about what it takes to be a companion, and in the process teases a few things about the TARDIS newcomer, Jenna-Louise Coleman. Just how different will she be from companions we’ve seen in the past?

I’ll answer you in the show about how it’s going to be different. But because it is going to be different. It’s going to be a shock, I think. In terms of the companions all being ‘the same’—that’s not as phony or artistically crap a thing to say as it sounds.

What is the base group of people who would run away with the Doctor? They’re all going to be a bit mad. A bit dislocated. Not happy with where they are. Are they yearning for outer space? They’re going to be people who feel like they can take on the Doctor, who’s quite an intimidating sort of person. So, they’re going to be feisty—they’re going to be all those things. He sort of defines the people who are going to travel with him. The distinction comes very much from the various actors and actresses. So, you know, they’re the ones who create the differences between them. But you are always going to have the same sort of person, just because it’s the same man choosing them, and it”s the same person being chosen.

Moffat also touched on why the Doctor usually picks attractive, young, female humans for his companions,

I think the function of a companion is pretty simple. I don’t think that’s very difficult. It’s just a question of who credibly is going to agree to go in the TARDIS? Who’s going to do it? Is it going to be a mother of 15 children? No. Is it going to be someone in their 60s? No. Is there going to be a particular age range? I mean … who’s going to have a crush on the Doctor? You know, come on! It’s more than a format. It’s evolved from good, dramatic reasons.

I don’t necessarily disagree, but it’s fun from time to time to shake up the Doctor/companion dynamic. Think of Donna Noble, while she was an attractive female she wasn’t the usual young girl with a crush on. They were more like best buds and she didn’t have much choice since the Doctor just kept showing up in her life.

Still, I’m really intrigued by just what kind of companion Coleman will be. What are your thoughts? And do you think you’d choose to run away with the Doctor? Do you have what it takes to be a companion?

If ya didn’t already know Matt Smith, Karen Gillan, Arthur Darvill and the rest of the Doctor Who crew are in New York City right now filming. In these exclusive images snapped by Katya Ivask and Theodore Stepanoff for io9 you can see the Doctor enjoying a picnic in Central Park with Mr. and Mrs. Companion. Is this one of last happy moments the three will spend together? Season seven marks the end for The Ponds’ travels with the Doctor and it’s been rumored to be extremely final for one of them. Oh, and heartbreaking, can’t even count how many times Steven Moffat‘s reminded us of that.

These photos are heartwarming but make me all the more depressed when I think of saying goodbye to Amy and Rory. I say, eff the haters, these two are my favorite Doctor Who companions and they’ll be deeply missed.

Happening right now is the very first Official Doctor Who Convention in Cardiff, Wales, which as you should know is where much of the filming for BBC‘s insanely popular sci-fi series takes place. Those attending are surely having one hell of an awesome weekend and all of us not in Wales are terribly jealous. Especially when we learned they’d been given an early sneak peak at a trailer for the first episode of season seven returning in the fall.

Thanks to this brave soul who uploaded a bootleg of the video, we can share in some of the excitement, too. No clue how long the video will remain available, so quick, watch it!

This trailer matches exactly with what we saw them filming in Spain and it is indeed a Western adventure. Did you pick up on any Dalek references in the dialogue? I think I did and while it is pretty hard to hear exactly what’s being said it might be a clue those rumors about visiting the ruins of Skaro are true.

What d’ya think? I’m kind of surprised they’ve got a trailer already, but I’m not complaining. Apparently an official version will be released on Monday, stay tuned!

Quite early this morning, very early for us here in the U.S., Steven Moffat held a press conference at which he revealed who the new companion on Doctor Who would be. We’ve know for some time The Ponds would be making their exit this upcoming season and now we’ve met their replacememt.

Say “hello” to your new companion, Jenna-Louise Coleman!

Wow. She’s pretty! And not that I’m saying past companions haven’t been but she’s got some kind of real celebrity glamour going on here. Also, who is she!? The rumors were she’d be a well known actress, in England anyway, but for us in the States? Yeah, I got nothing.

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